Nikos Filis

Greece will not make a June 5 loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund if there is no prospect of an aid-for-reforms deal with its international creditors soon, the spokesman for the ruling Syriza party's lawmakers said on Wednesday.

"If there is no prospect of a deal by Friday or Monday, I don't know by when exactly, we will not pay,» Nikos Filis told Mega TV.

Greece’s Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party was divided over Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ choice of economist Eleni Panaritis as the country’s representative to the International Monetary Fund. Just 24 hours after the decision was announced, 44 SYRIZA MPs called on the government to revoke this decision.

A Greek government minister said on May 24 that Athens will be unable to repay the IMF on schedule next month, reiterating previous warnings by officials during tense talks with the country's creditors.     

"The instalment to the IMF won't be paid," Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis told Mega TV.

Payments totalling roughly 1.5 billion euros owed by Greece to the IMF are due in June, beginning with 300 million on June 5, with a top SYRIZA lawmaker on Wednesday warning that “if there is no deal by then that will address the current funding problem, they won’t get any money.”

By Renee Maltezou & Angeliki Koutantou

Greece cannot make an upcoming payment to the International Monetary Fund on June 5 unless foreign lenders disburse more aid, a senior ruling party lawmaker said on Wednesday, the latest warning from Athens it is on the verge of default.

The government will hold a referendum if it is given a ?take it or leave it? offer by Greece?s lenders, according to SYRIZA?s parliamentary spokesman Nikos Filis.

?Negotiations are entering a crucial few days,? Filis told Skai TV on Monday morning.

BY Paul Tugwell & Rebecca Christie

Greece?s government said it won?t back down on election pledges to end austerity even while seeking to agree on a deal with creditors as soon as this week to unblock financing and avert a default.

A frenzy of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund over the last 24 hours is aimed at clinching a deal.

The Church of Greece and SYRIZA?s parliamentary group representative, Nikos Filis, clashed on Monday after the latter complained about the use of a relic of Saint Barbara, one of the most venerated saints in the Orthodox Church, which was brought to Greece over the weekend.

Government sources said that the negotiations with the Brussels Group are continuing as usual following the return of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras from Brussels.